This invention relates generally to decorative surface articles which possess unique visual qualities and which can be of particular use in the resilient floor and furniture industries and to methods of producing such decorative surface articles.
Surface coverings, and in particular resilient floorings, are selected by the consumer largely on the basis of appearance, durability, each of maintenance and cost. Consumers have, in recent times, been bypassing the use of finished wood floors in favor of resilient synthetic floors for economic reasons and for ease of maintenance. However, because of the beauty of a finished wood floor, many efforts have been made to simulate many of wood's unique and desired visual qualities on resilient flooring. For example, one well-known method of producing simulated wood grain is to reproduce photographically a wood grain pattern and apply it to a suitable base surface. Other well-known methods include applying a wood grain pattern by printing or engraving means, such as hot stamping foils and roll and rotogravure printing or by heat transfer means. However, such surface coverings invariably appear even on a casual glance, as being a wood simulation, and furthermore, do not possess many of wood's unique and desired visual effects. Such visual effects are caused primarily by real wood's physical structure and surface qualities and cannot be redproduced by printing or photographic means alone. In particular, many finished wood products have visual qualities that change, in reference to the viewer, with the angle of incident light on the surface of the article. This visual effect, which is sometimes known as directional flip, may be noted by the transformation of the area viewed from light to dark shades and vice versa as the angle of incident illumination and/or the angle of view are changed. In addition to the above visual effect, it would be desirable to produce synthetic surfaces that have a sheen or luster and, even on smooth surfaces, a non-surface texture three dimensional effect. These effects are difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate in a printed or photographically reproduced pattern.
It is an object of the present invention to provide decorative surface articles that contain, in whole or part, many of the visual properties set forth above which can be employed on flooring, furniture, countertop surfacing products and the like and which are produced through the use of nonwood materials.
This and other objects as set forth herein have been surprisingly accomplished in an effective manner through the incorporation, in at least a portion of a decorative surface, of aligned air pockets or cavities which are positioned along the surface of fibers embedding within the decorative surface. These aligned air pockets simulate the reflective light scattering qualities of wood's fibrous lumen and give the resulting product directional flip. Through the use of such aligned air pockets or cavities, there is provided a unique, aesthetically attractive, functional resilient article which can be employed, for example, as a floor covering material and which has many of the unique visual properties that are set forth above.